Talk to Your Kids About Money: You Never Know. They MIGHT Be Listening

My kids will be the first to tell you I talk too much. Especially, they say, I lecture too much. Guilty! However I was pleasantly surprised this week to discover that apparently sometimes they are listening when I talk about money.

Library Books are Wonderful but Some Books are Meant for Buying

Having a full family of readers means we have to keep our book buying under control. There are two major problems: the expense and the need for storage space.
After having to up-size the bookshelves in their rooms a few times, my children eventually understood that there really is a limit to how many books you can own in an average home.

I introduced them to my own family’s tactic: only buy a book you want to read more than once. For one-time-only reads, borrow the books from the library. Not sure if you’ll want to read it again? Borrow it from the library and then buy it if you do want it again.

While they have gradually caught on to this tactic, they also had the “outgrowing” advantage during the years it took to catch hold. When you’re growing up there are often books you love but that you eventually outgrow and don’t want anymore. Those can be retired either to the family bookshelves in the basement, or to the various fundraising book sales and donation programs.

How to Curb the Cost of Book Buying

While they still were in the ages and stages of needing to own every book in a series with 20 or more titles, it was important to teach them ways to save money buying books.

They learned

• to search through books at garage sales, especially local sales where they knew the family’s children were slightly older than they were
• to check the books for sale at the local thrift stores
• to keep an eye on the discards and “friends of the library” books sold outside our three nearby branches
• to save up for the annual Grade-6-fundraising book sale at their school
• to put new titles on their wish lists for Christmas and birthdays
• to trade books with friends and relatives

Searching for the Best Price on New Titles Can Save Big Bucks

They also got used to me looking up books online. I would make them read reviews on amazon.com before they committed to an expensive new book.

I would also price check. Usually amazon.ca has the best price for new books, but not always. They also learned that they can look up a book on bookoutlet.com or at abebooks.com.

Apparently They DO Listen and Learn

This week, one of my children wanted to pre-order a book that’s been a long time in the writing from amazon.ca. I was a bit surprised:

• it’s been a long wait for this one
• my child knows the book will be sitting on the table at the local book store on Release Day
• there’s money on a gift card waiting to use for part of the cost of a new book

So I asked, “Why not just get it at the store?”

The answer was a gratifying one: “Because it’s 34% off online. That’s almost enough to buy another paperback later.”

Cool! They really do get it sometimes.

Now if I can just figure out how to get them to clean their rooms….

Related Reading

• Five Things I Forgot This Summer While on Vacation that Cost Me Money

Join In
Do you have a family of bibliophiles? What tips and tricks do you use to reduce costs and keep the volume manageable? Please share your experiences with a comment.